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Syria is accepting Russia's proposal to hand over its chemical-weapons stocks to prevent a military airstrike by the U.S. "Let's see if we can come up with language that avoids a strike but accomplishes our key goals to make sure that these chemical weapons are not used," said U.S. President Barack Obama, while the U.S. Senate is preparing revised legislation.

Related Summaries

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has condemned the Syrian government and Islamic State for using chemical weapons. The matter now goes to the United Nations Security Council, which must decide how to hold Syria and the militants accountable.

The United Nations and Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons inspection team received Syria's chemical-weapons destruction plan three days before the deadline. UN-OPCW experts expect to visit the remaining four of 23 sites by Friday.

The United Nations Security Council's five permanent members -- the U.S., U.K., France, China and Russia -- have reached an agreement on a resolution demanding that Syria relinquish its chemical weapons. The measure, which could be voted on today by the entire Security Council, has no specific penalties for noncompliance. Meanwhile, the UN chemical-weapons team is in Syria and slated to investigate seven incidents.

The U.S. and Russia agreed on Saturday on steps to remove Syria's chemical-weapons arsenal by the middle of 2014. Today, the U.S., U.K. and France met to craft deadlines for those steps, while Russia is calling for Syrian rebels to be compelled to the negotiating table.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon confirms that Syria has signed the 1992 international treaty banning use of chemical weapons. Meanwhile, Lakhdar Brahimi, UN special envoy for Syria, is meeting jointly with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov today in Geneva about restarting Syrian peace talks.